The sensible Texan
by NCR Ranger
Summary: A short moment as Bravo catches a breather while they wait for a chance to prove the meddler Shaw wrong


" There's something, _different_, about Ray ". Sonny mused, leaning back in his mess hall chair, delicately tipping it back on its two metal legs. " I can't say what it is, _exactly_, though. Anyone else, care to take a stab at it ? "

For a moment, the rest of Bravo, scattered around the edge of the folding table that was serving as a humble banquet platform for a squad of hungry ( which was a tad redundant, as SEALs and Spec ops personnel in general were always hungry ) frogmen, didn't respond. They paused in their eating, heads slowly turning to face the cap wearing Texan who'd spoken.

Still finding themselves stuck on the Indian military base that they'd been deposited onto by one of its Blackhawks ( after it plucked them out of the dusty sandbox while under fire, using a SPIE rig, barrel of monkeys style ), the men of Bravo had found themselves in the twilight zone that existed when they were fresh off an op, and waiting for new mission orders to come in for their next target package. As they were in unfamiliar territory, and were mostly out of the loop of what was going on in the bigger picture ( as grunts, though, they were used to that discourtesy ), they'd sought out at least one thing they were familiar with.

Food. _Chow_.

God knows they needed some right now. Everyone's throats had would up lined with grit, and sand had gotten caked onto their teeth. The water in their canteens could only do so much to rinse it off, and besides, it was important to keep one's strength up for when they were inevitably called upon again.

Now, they were here, gathered around semi-warm plates of _actual_ food-mostly chicken, of course- , rather than the excuses for food that were MREs, while at an actual table instead of sitting out in the dirt huddled around bushes. It was a nice change of pace- until " Commander " Shaw the Meddler brought his interfering hammer down on them simply because he could.

Till then-

" Are you being passive-aggressive, Sonny ? ". Jace wasn't clearly annoyed, but not entirely joking, either. That'd he'd spoken before Ray himself had was odd, but the aforementioned troubled SEAL wasn't paying much attention; he was more interested in sampling his cup of water, and staring fixedly at the far wall as if it could let him in on some ancient secret.

" If you have a point you want to make, then make it. "

Undeterred, and evidently taking that as an open invitation, Sonny casually flipped his spoon around his fingers, as he continued his thoughtful contemplation.

" Well, what I'm sayin' is, when we were in that church, ol' Ray here got all pensive and moody. And then he seemed stuck in that rut for a good country mile. Now, out of a cloudless Indian sky, here he is: _Kinda_ allright. Kinda. "

Sonny now glanced over at Ray, pointing the spoon. " Ain't that the case, Ray ? "

At that point, Kairos spoke up. " You're egging him on, Sonny. Stop it. "

Waving a hand dismissively at the EOD tech, Sonny didn't let up. " Well ? Want to talk about it ? Come on Ray."

Sonny spoke kindly, but there was a slight edge, as if he was lowkey daring Ray to snap something at him.

" We could slug it out instead, if you'd rather. "

" I don't think he does. ", Kairos observed.

Jace was now strongly considering barking a _" That's enough, Sonny ! " _at the Texan, and even formed the sentence in his mouth, ready to actually speak it, but he couldn't help but remember how, _quietly _Ray had been behaving recently. No outbursts of any kind, or disappearing at random for no discernible reason.

He wasn't back to his old self, not really, but it was a notch up from how he'd been before how the HALO jump op had ended up as a Master Chief-sized failure.

_Maybe Sonny's tack is actually paying off here._

He looked over at Ray.

Bravo 2 still didn't say anything. He took another sip, then set the cup down and took a few more bites. He hardly even seemed to acknowledge Sonny.

" Hmm. He's not having it. ". The Texan shrugged, flipping the spoon again- his usual self. " Par for the course. Least it hadn't gotten worse. "

The rest of Bravo continued to hover on the edge of the exchange, ready to step in if things began to get tense to the point of a full blown argument-because those strongly tended to lead to fights. Ray, however, didn't escalate.

He stayed out of it, withdrawn into his own world. Even Sonny got the message, and went back to arguing which of the NFL teams were truly the best. The moment of tension had gone by.

" I'm doing better. "

Ray's statement was pretty much out of the blue. Everyone blinked, or otherwise reacted with some level of surprise.

" Woah. He lives ? ", Sonny raised both brows.

Heads turned toward the unspoken SEAL.

Ray didn't meet their gazes, but he didn't stop either.

" I do feel better. Can't say by how much, or why, or even how, but I do. So, thanks for asking. Let's eat first. "

As admissions go, it wasn't much. But, everyone on Bravo had been worried like mad over the one and only Ray Perry. They hated to see him sliding further and further away from them to someone he wasn't. Now, at least, they had some sign he was healing.

Some. And it was enough.

" That's good to hear, Ray. ". Jace felt himself smile; at least one corner. " And when you get home, you'll find things are even better for men like us. You got a whole country that loves you, values you. Its so easy to think otherwise, but its true. And your own family does too. They've all- all of them- been there all along. "

" Preach ! " , Sonny called. " Sun's coming up over the horizon. You got to stop being so _cynical_, brother. That's Bravo 1's job ! "

" And that tool, Shaw ! "

It didn't quite trigger laughter- chuckles at most-but it wasn't unwelcome. They knew Jace had spoken truly.

" You know that. Maybe you needed a little reminder. But its ok, because we got you back. "


End file.
